The 20th century has had more medical breakthroughs than any other hundred years in But there is a price. No significant discovery in this time has occurred without theuse of animals in biological research experiments. Heart surgery, polio, osteoporosis,diabetes, AIDS, and cancer have all had significant breakthroughs thanks to theseexperiments(McCarty 15). The use of animals in todays world is highly controversial. Oursociety eats animals and their products, wears them, uses them for entertainment, and killssome species, such as rats and mice for being a nuisance. In a society which uses animalsin all these different ways, it is ethical to use animals in medical research. Many medicaladvances rely heavily upon animal work such as the development of insulin for people withdiabetes, transplants, blood transfusions, anesthetics and vaccines. Although all modernmedicine rests in part on animal studies, its major work is on cell and tissue culture,computer models, studies of healthy human volunteers, hospital patients in clinical trials,and the analysis of large populations. Only 2-3% of medical charity research funds arespent on animals, their food, care and welfare, and the vets and technicians to look afterthem(McCarty 17). Even though the direct cost of the animals is small, around 20% of allprojects will involve an element of animal studies in amongst the other researchtechniques. When animals are used in research there are strict regulations to ensure aminimum of pain and suffering for the subjects(UNMC). Ultimately our overallunderstanding of diseases rests heavily upon studies of living systems, including animals.In the fight to save human lives, animals are vital. The Hot Zone reveals that animalresearch inadvertently led to an outbreak of Ebola near Washington DC. But this is aunique case where research has harmed humankind. The U.S. has recognized theimportance of animal research and were it not for the Animals (Scientific) Res...
